Mrs.Lee's house was an oasis to him, and he found himself, to his surprise, almost gay in her company.

The gaiety was of a very quiet kind, and Sybil, while friendly with him, averred that he was certainly dull; but this dulness had a fascination for Madeleine, who, having tasted many more kinds of the wine of life than Sybil, had learned to value certain delicacies of age and flavour that were lost upon younger and coarser palates.

He talked rather slowly and almost with effort, but he had something of the dignity--others call it stiffness--of the old Virginia school, and twenty years of constant responsibility and deferred hope had added a touch of care that bordered closely on sadness.

His great attraction was that he never talked or seemed to think of himself.

Mrs.Lee trusted in him by instinct.